Habs need an upgrade at D. I'd say they're slightly above average among the 30 NHL teams but not quite in the top 10. They have to be better able to contain teams with fast forwards, a problem they haven't been able to fix for quite some time. As for the center position, I'd be happy if they came up with another, younger version of Koivu (please stop griping about his not being a legitimate #1, because if he's not a true #1, then the Habs haven't had even one for about 10 years).
What have they fixed? There's more depth. The Habs no longer rely on Théodore (thank heaven). With the departure of Ribeiro, they're better at faceoffs--at least Koivu and Plekanec are OK. They've come up with a good first line and they're better on the power play than they were several years ago. They're a bit more physical. No longer do the Leafs bully them into submission.
NOOOO, Gilbert Brulé... no, Luc Bourdon... What am I saying? I meant... we should have took Brian Lee... or maybe Tuuka Raask (he proved that he will be better than Price).
Ryan Parent would have been a good choice too, why we didn't chose him??? What about Marc-Edouard Vlasic? A future Norris winner, AND HE'S QUEBECER TOOOO!!!
NOOOO, Gilbert Brulé... no, Luc Bourdon... What am I saying? I meant... we should have took Brian Lee... or maybe Tuuka Raask (he proved that he will be better than Price).
Ryan Parent would have been a good choice too, why we didn't chose him??? What about Marc-Edouard Vlasic? A future Norris winner, AND HE'S QUEBECER TOOOO!!!
Carey Price... what a bust.
It's my opinion, I hate the BPA theory...we should start drafting for needs but I don't want us to discuss about this again. I'd say, we should improve our defence badly...Rivet, Souray will become fa's...it's time for a change.
We all figured out that we need a top 4 dman and another good center
It's my opinion, I hate the BPA theory...we should start drafting for needs but I don't want us to discuss about this again. I'd say, we should improve our defence badly...Rivet, Souray will become fa's...it's time for a change.
We all figured out that we need a top 4 dman and another good center
Maybe you missed last draft where we drafted a lot of defs?
If they wanted a potential franchise netminder cause they feel Theo wasn't the kind of guys that would lead them to the cup?
They knew that they probably would not be in the Top10-15 in the draft for a long time, so they took a goaler that usually left the board in that range.
Marc Staal, there was a lot of Staal's hype around him, maybe that is what afraid them.
Anze Kopitar, okay, I'm angry like a lot of people when we didn't chose him, but there must be a reason why he slips to number 11. He was Top5 in a lot of list, so the skill was there. But maybe they didn't want a guy that could have problem to come over. Maybe there was a lot of question marks about him after the interviews with every teams. There is something we don't know about him for sure.
I'm happy with the Carey Price pick, we don't have a player of that qualiber in our system so it's a good thing that we took him.
Agreed. This team just doesn't rush the puck well and on the PP we have too much trouble gaining the line. Markov is aterrific point man, but not a great rusher, IMO.
Our weakest point is not being able to satiate the fan base by peering into the future when scouting and picking the player that all the Canadiens fans cry that we didn't pick.
I think that we need better ''organized ''' forwards, I think that if our guys manage to find a system they are comfortable with we have very very few flaws.
The last 2 games seemed to show we're not really playing a real system beside : try to skate fast and score !
No cycling plan, no first pass plan, no offensive zone plan.
One thing that stands out for me is the difficulty our D has at moving the puck up. our speedy forwards would be alot more effective if the D could deliver long passes instead of letting the opposition set up. once Markov finds his groove it should get better.
i think we need some size on our team. The habs are split into two section: big and Fast. We need to have a combination of these two things. Look at Samsonov as an example, he's fast but quite short and not to big
Markov-Komi
Rivet-Niniima
Dandenault-Streit/Bouillon when he's back
pp1: Higgins-Koivu-Ryder
Markov-Niniima
pp2:Samsonov-Carter-Latendresse
Streit-Kovalev
my reasoning for the trade is that Philly needs help in D and goalie, Huet has more value . Abeisher is cheaper and one year away from UFA status, witch after imo both Price and Danis will be ready, we have to pay the price if we want a real potential n.1 center ala Carter in our team
IMO, the biggest weakness is team defensive zone coverage.
This can only get better with time... especially with one of the best defensive forwards of all time coaching the team .
Trouble is, Carbonneau isn't playing.
As for the coaching, they had Gainey, perhaps an even better defensive forward, the year before, and Julien, a defense-first coach, without being anything close to airtight. So we'd better look at the players themselves to account for the defensive lapses and penalties. They'd better get with the program.
Seriously putting Jeff carter beetween Kovy and Sammy would be freackin awesome! he's the exact type of forward we need right now!
i'd trade a huet, Souray and chipchura package for him, the you trade Bonk for a pick while he's hot and we have a ...
my reasoning for the trade is that Philly needs help in D and goalie, Huet has more value . Abeisher is cheaper and one year away from UFA status, witch after imo both Price and Danis will be ready, we have to pay the price if we want a real potential n.1 center ala Carter in our team
Brutal trade. Philly can't take on $5m in salary, and doesn't need Huet (another 1-B goalie), likely doesn't want Souray (overpaid and underskilled), and Chipchura is pretty much worthless at this point. You're proposing trading our spare parts for their #1 centre 60% of the time, when Forsberg's injured. Throw in a bag of pucks, they might give us Gagne, too. Also, how many goalies make the jump from junior to the NHL when they're 20 and make an impact. Had Carolina done that last season, they mightn't have made the playoffs because Cam Ward was so poor. Trading Aebischer is more likely and reasonable because he's cheaper, less risk, and already established to be a decent goalie who can play 50+ games. I disagree with your entire analysis and proposals.
Can we not appreciate that we made the playoffs last season when we had no business being there? Carried by a hot goalie, and fortunate to have adapted to the rules early, we were in the playoffs solely because of a 15-3 streak to start the season. They had a ceremony in Buffalo just for being conference finalists. In Montreal the banner would be burnt, and the players would be chastised in such a ceremony.
Every team needs a true #1 centre (only 15-20 or so in the NHL, Koivu included) , true #1 goalie (only 10 or so in the league), and true #1 defenseman (of which there only seem to be about 5 in the league). We don't have a superstar. Get over it.
Last edited by coolguy21415: 10-10-2006 at 12:35 PM.
I think Montreal's biggest need will be to get a #1a/1b center. Koivu fills one of those spots - but if he goes down for any length of time (knock on wood) - yikes.
Not only if he goes down, but by adding another #1 center, you take some of the attention off Koivu's line and you really would see an improvement right through the entire lineup.
Once the Habs get that piece, they are very close to contending deep into the playoffs.
